On Earth Day 2025, we hear from Trust Fundraising Executive, Sam, who has been working on a dedicated organisation-wide sustainability policy funded by the Wates Foundation.

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The most vulnerable populations around the world are those most affected by a warming planet, and this includes people imprisoned in a foreign country. This is because prison infrastructure in many parts of the world is rarely equipped to deal with the impact of climate change, which is worsening already poor conditions and making the dangers of extreme heat, flooding and disease even more acute.

Prisoners Abroad recognises that addressing the climate crisis is an important step we can take towards protecting the wellbeing of the people we support.

We help people in over 100 countries, a significant proportion of whom are older or have physical and mental health conditions – groups who are particularly impacted by extreme weather events. Furthermore, many of the countries these people are detained in are on the frontline of climate-caused disasters, such as the heatwaves and floods that have affected prisons in Nigeria, Australia, and the USA in recent years.

With environmental consultancy support funded by the Wates Foundation last year, we have created a sustainability policy with a view to reducing our environmental impact as much as possible, thereby doing what we can to mitigate our contribution to the effects of climate change. 

This has helped us to identify what we are already doing well, as well as ideas about how we can further reduce our carbon footprint, several of which have already been implemented.

In the office, we have introduced dedicated food waste disposal in addition to our regular recycling – composted food emissions can be up to 98% lower than food sent to landfill. We have also started providing plant-based milk for staff, which emits 70% less carbon and requires 90% less water to produce than dairy milk – given the amount of tea and coffee Prisoners Abroad staff drink, this may be the single most climate-positive action an organisation has ever made.

In the fundraising and communications team, we are proactively reducing the number of physical letters we send in favour of emails, and as an organisation we have dedicated recycling for hard-to-recycle items such as stationery and medicine blister packs, which was introduced by our especially planet-friendly Prisoner and Family Service Manager.

Finance management is often cited as the most important factor in an organisation’s climate impact, and our financial reserves are held with an investment fund who pioneer ethical and sustainable investment, both socially and environmentally. We are also looking into renewable energy suppliers for future contracts.

Our priority will always be the welfare of British people imprisoned abroad, their families, and ex-prisoners returning to the UK after serving a sentence. However, by looking at how we can work in an increasingly sustainable way, we will not only be fulfilling the responsibility we all have to protect the planet, but also investing in the wellbeing of vulnerable people who are set to be some of those most affected by the growing climate crisis.

For an in-depth insight into how climate change is affecting prisons around the world, please see this article by Alice Edwards in Prison Insider, ‘Prisons in the Eye of the Storm’.

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Being offered a lifeline can change everything. 

Prisoners Abroad translates human rights law into practical life-saving actions by providing prisoners access to vitamins and essential food, emergency medical care, freepost envelopes to keep in touch with home and books and magazines to help sustain mental health.

Can you help to support our life-saving work by donating today?

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